Interdepartmental Research Unit of Peptide and Protein Chemistry and Biology, Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff," University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
Interdepartmental Research Unit of Peptide and Protein Chemistry and Biology, Department of NeuroFarBa, University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
Expert Opin Ther Pat. 2023 Mar;33(3):169-178. doi: 10.1080/13543776.2023.2190884. Epub 2023 Mar 28.
Eradication of malaria remains one of the main aims of medicine. Despite progress in malaria treatment, mortality rate remains high, especially in the poorest parts of the world. Therefore, prevention through vaccines is fundamental and recent approval of the first effective vaccine reinforced this assumption. However, since the parasite cycle is composed of three stages, different types of vaccine targeting stage-specific antigens shall be developed. Moreover, the beneficial effect on vaccinated subjects can be tuned using compositions targeting different stages.
We analyzed the malaria vaccine patent landscape describing the most significant patents published after 2016, classified according to the different parasite stages targeted focusing on selected protein antigens or epitopes. We searched 'malaria vaccine' on Patentscope and Espacenet.
Pre-erythrocytic vaccines were boosted by RTS,S approval, but its partial efficacy, limited to sporozoites, calls for compositions active against other disease stages. In particular, multi-antigen vaccines could be more effective than single-stage ones, as they would activate an immune response similar to that acquired in endemic regions. Furthermore, vaccine storage is another factor to be considered given the climate of the areas where malaria is widespread. More advanced technologies can lead to more effective and safer vaccines.
消除疟疾仍然是医学的主要目标之一。尽管在疟疾治疗方面取得了进展，但死亡率仍然很高，特别是在世界上最贫穷的地区。因此，通过疫苗进行预防是至关重要的，最近批准的第一种有效疫苗强化了这一假设。然而，由于寄生虫周期由三个阶段组成，因此需要开发针对特定阶段抗原的不同类型的疫苗。此外，使用针对不同阶段的组合物可以调节对接种疫苗的受试者的有益效果。
我们分析了疟疾疫苗专利领域，描述了 2016 年后发表的最重要的专利，根据针对不同寄生虫阶段的选定蛋白抗原或表位进行分类。我们在 Patentscope 和 Espacenet 上搜索了“疟疾疫苗”。
RTS,S 的批准推动了红细胞前期疫苗的发展，但它的部分功效（仅限于子孢子）需要针对其他疾病阶段的组合物。特别是，多抗原疫苗可能比单阶段疫苗更有效，因为它们会激活类似于在流行地区获得的免疫反应。此外，鉴于疟疾广泛传播地区的气候，疫苗储存也是需要考虑的另一个因素。更先进的技术可以带来更有效和更安全的疫苗。
